Afternoon Reads

-- Joan McCarter has a good summary of the wins, draws and losses in the financial reform bill passed out of conference committee in the wee hours this morning.

-- Steve Benen covers the Rethugs' obstructing the bill extending unemployment benefits and other stimulus monies, and how selected print media outlets led the story (hint: with one exception, you would never know it was the Rethugs).

Those "Country First" Rethuglicans

As we noted last Friday, Senate Rethugs are representing Wall Street in trying to block financial reform, while pretending to want a deal with the Dems for public consumption. It appears as though the Rethugs are ready to fillibuster the reform bill coming out of the Senate Banking Committee. No doubt the Rethugs are positioning themselves to insert some Wall Street-friendly language in the bill as the price for allowing the bill to be debated. Meanwhile they continue to lie their asses off about "too big to fail" (which the bill addresses forcefully) and "bank bailouts" (which aren't even envisioned in the bill). The mainstream media, of course, is largely treating it as a Dem/Rethug sporting event, and themselves as mere observers unable or unwilling to call out the liars for fear of being accused of being "librul."

Rethugs Doing Wall Street's Bidding

While President Obama was in New York City yesterday talking about the need for effective financial industry regulation, senior Rethug politicians were in Washington attending a fundraiser with financial industry lobbyists, who are trying to scuttle any reform. This follows a meeting in New York two weeks ago between Rethug Sens. Mitch "Missy" McConnell and John "Big John" Cornyn, who leads the Senate Rethug Campaign Committee, and major hedge fund managers to assure them of Rethug opposition to reform.

According to Think Progress, which videoed the Rethugs and lobbyists coming from yesterday's fundraiser, several Rethugs and their corporate sponsors declined to comment or give their names as the exited the building. They know that being on the take from Wall Street wouldn't be popular with their "Joe the Plumber" low-information base, so seeing them scurry from the meeting is fun to watch. We'd love to see it picked up in Dem campaign ads, too.

Rethugs: "We'll Filibuster Wall Street Reform!"

On cue, the 41 Rethug Senators have signed a letter saying they'll oppose bringing the financial reform bill up for debate and a vote. Also on cue, the Rethugs are using the focus-group tested line of attack offered by Rethug hack Frank Luntz: "To defeat reform, just call it a bailout!" The Rethugs look to get campaign money from the bankers and Wall Street (viz Missy McConnell's and John "Boner" Boehner's reported sales pitches to Wall Steet fat cats -- see April 14 posting). Also, why give Obama another legislative victory?

Also on cue will be the media's balancing fact with fiction and declaring both legitimate.

The Party of Wall Steet

The next time you hear a Rethug say they're for Main Street, not Wall Street, recall this bit of populism (courtesy of the Wall Street Journal - so you know it's unalloyed Rethug "thinking"). Dems should have the ads out on this within 24 hours if they have a clue. With the "Dunce" Luntz memo on derailing financial institution reform, and now this, it would be sweet to see ads asking, "Who's trying to keep the Wall Street fat cats happy? Who's trying to keep their big bonuses coming? Who wants to have things just as they were before the financial crisis last year? Turns out the Party of No can't say 'no' to Wall Street."

So, the only question that should remain is do we call them the Party of No, the Party of Wall Street, or the Party of Stupid?

The Rethug Game Plan to Sink Financial Reform

Rethug pollster whiz and Fux "News" contributor Frank "Dunce" Luntz has penned a long memo to Rethuglicans on how to defeat financial regulatory reform and not get blamed. It's a window into the soulless "values" of modern Rethuglicanism: protect the big banks and investment firms while pretending you're the "populists." This cynical memo should be at the top of every news program tonight, but of course it won't be. They'll be too busy being shocked! SHOCKED! by the nearly $4 trillion budget unveiled today, huge chunks of which are to fund the previous Assministration's two wars and recovery from the Rethug Recession.